


Fantasy Role

by Averys_got_a_pen



Category: Critical Role (Web Series), Dimension 20 (Web Series), Fantasy High (Web Series)
Genre: AU, And I can't help but see parallels with critical role, Anxiety Disorder, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, I watched Fantasy High, M9 meets the Bad Kids, Maybe Pete the Plug will make a cameo, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Panic Attacks, look - Freeform, not me certainly, who knows - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-14
Updated: 2020-01-04
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:55:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21779455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Averys_got_a_pen/pseuds/Averys_got_a_pen
Summary: Powerful arcane magic dislocates the heroes of the Krynn Dynasty to a whole new world, where cars roam the streets and adventurers take classes - literally. Can the Bad Kids and The Mighty Nein work together to keep Spire safe and return the latter home?I mean, probably, yeah. I guess read it and find out for sure, though?Or: the mighty nein get thrown into the world of Fantasy High. The crossover nobody wanted or deserved, but you're getting it anyway.
Relationships: Kristen Applebees/Tracker, The Mighty Nein & The Bad Kids, Zelda Donovan/Gorgug Thistlespring
Comments: 12
Kudos: 99





	1. The Elmville Dynasty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok so hear me out... critical role plus dimension 20.   
> Look, SOMEONE had to write it ok, I know you were all thinking it!   
> Since I feel as though some of you will come from one fandom or the other, I'll do a wee little introduction of the characters from each. Idk if I'll have enough characters but I'll try.
> 
> CR - Takes place after Yasha goes on her walk-about and before they meet Allura  
> Beauregard Lionette - Human Monk (way of the cobalt soul) - badass disaster lesbian  
> Caduceus Clay - Firbolg Cleric (Grave Domain) - a very chill dude who makes tea out of dead people  
> Caleb Widogast - Human Wizard (School of Transmutation) - trauma fire boi  
> Fjord - Half-orc Warlock/Paladin (Hexblade, Pact of the Blade) - made a pact with an ancient being then renounced it  
> Jester Lavorre - Tiefling Cleric (Trickery Domain) - just a ball of sugar, excitement and cuteness  
> Nott the Brave - Goblin Rogue (Arcane Trickster) - used to be a halfling before she died and returned as a goblin
> 
> [as a sidenote, I debated adding Molly and Yasha for a while, but decided that given that there's already a lot of characters, I didn't want to overcrowd the fic. Sorry to any who were hoping to see either of them here.]
> 
> D20 - happens between the live show and the second season (they're Sophomores)  
> Adaine Abernant - High Elf Wizard (School of Divination) - anxious mess of a wizard. also the elven oracle.  
> Fabian Aramais Seacaster - Half-elf Fighter (Champion) - Son of Bill Seacaster, the famous pirate. You've heard of him?  
> Figueroth Feath - Tiefling Bard/Warlock (College of Whispers/Hexblade) - Mom's a badass, first dads kind of the best/worst?, second dad is a literal demon  
> Gorgug Thistlespring - Half-orc Barbarian (Beserker) - ive been thinking about it, and there's a possibility that you're my dad  
> Kristen Applebees - Human Cleric (Life) - in a constant crises of faith. Currently worships "Yes?". Also incredibly gay  
> Riz Gutgag - Goblin Rogue (Inquisitive) - a sixteen year old PI. he's the dnd sherlock holmes and his mom is the best fuckin' shoutout Sklonda for being a fucking hero

Unbeknownst to any involved, today would be colossally important to not only themselves, but also the fate of the universe, the planes, and the very existence of everything.

It started, for Fig Faeth as it always did, with waking up in a grungy little apartment to the sound of soft sobbing. As she got ready for school, she came across her not-quite-father, Gillear, who had managed to compose himself enough to eat some yogurt that was almost definitely out of date.

She was saved from one of Gillear's long, sad speeches about yogurt by the sound of a knock on the front door.

"That'll be Riz." she excused, silently relieved and then feeling bad about it. "I gotta get to school, but I'll see you later, yeah?" 

Gillear sat up a little straighter. "Yes, as I am the Vice Principle now, I will definitely see you later." 

"Cool. Later." Fig opened the door and felt a surge of relief as she saw the skittish goblin in the hallway. "Riz, you just saved me from, like, an _e-ternity_ of the slowest, saddest speech you have ever heard in your life." 

"You're... welcome?" Riz tucked his briefcase under his arm to fix his collar. For a sixteen year old boy, he dressed an awful lot like a middle-aged accountant.

"Let's bounce." Fig said, tucking her skateboard somewhat too energetically under her arm. "I wanna talk to Gorgug before class." 

\---

Meanwhile, in a very different place and a very different time, an obscure band of adventurers are fighting for their lives.

It's been three weeks since any of the Mighty Nein had seen the sunlight. On a request from their sponsor, Essek Thelyss, they'd followed the trail of a powerful mage who'd caused quite a rumble for the Krynn Dynasty. Unfortunately for them, that trail had led them down a deep, intricate tunnel that went on and on and on for miles. 

Looking down at the map they had of Xhorhas and the surrounding land, Fjord wondered if they had travelled far enough to have switched governments. 

"Hey, Caleb, what direction are we travelling in?" Fjord called back to where Caleb was in the middle of the single-file line they'd made.

"Uhh, we are travelling-" he stopped for a moment, rotating on the spot. "That way is North, then we are travelling... South East. Why?" 

"Well, if I'm readin' this map right, we're right underneath the Penumbra Range." 

Caleb's lip twitched but he didn't say anything. Truth be told, none of them were really saying much of anything. Being trapped in a long, monotonous, five foot wide tunnel for three weeks will make anyone snappy. 

And so, they just went back to their walking.

\---

Adaine Abernant was predictably early to school. She found herself holed up inside the library, surrounded by various books and accompanied, as always, by Boggy the Froggy. From his perch on her shoulder, he stared up at her with big, glassy eyes and his throat inflated as he let out a questioning, _Ribbbit?_

"I don't know, Boggy." Adaine sighed, finally putting her books down. "I shouldn't be worried. Me and my friends have all been on like _actual_ adventures. We killed a dragon, for goodness' sake!" she hesitated before gently coaxing the almost perfectly-spherical toad into her hands. "It's only a dumb simulation. It's just a test. Worth fifty percent of my grade for the term. No big deal." 

Froggy made an empathetic _Rrrrribit_ in solidarity. 

Adaine sighed heavily. "You're right. I _am_ over-reacting because I have a mental illness and I _should_ express my concerns to the others." she hesitated for a moment, then put the frog back on her shoulder. She picked up one of the books, opening it to the page she'd bookmarked and showing it to Boggy. "Did you know that there are creatures out there more powerful and more ancient than dragons? What if Aguefort wants us to fight something like this? Look at how many fucking teeth this thing has, Boggy."

\---

"This guy seems dangerous." Beau whispered to the others. "But if we get him while he's distracted, then can just like, get the drop on 'im." 

A few feet back in the tunnel, Jester found her tail flicking nervously. "I don't know, you guys. Essek seemed to take this guy really seriously."

"I've got a counter-argument!" Nott chimed in, swaying slightly on the spot as she pulled out her crossbow, loading a bolt in. " _Fluffernutter_!" she shout-whispered.

"I don't think that's a good idea." Fjord said, rolling his eyes slightly. "Let's just get the jump on this guy and put him asleep more permanently." 

"I don't have many spells left." Caduceus said. 

" _Ja_ , I used a lot of mine on the cave trolls." Caleb put in. "Perhaps those who do not use spells as much should go first?" He looked between Fjord, Beau and Nott. 

Jester hefted her handax with an unsettling smile. "I don't need spells!" 

"We know that, Jessie." Beau smiled. "Maybe just stay at the back in case someone needs healing?" 

Jester visibly deflated a little. "Alright, I can do that." 

"Ok, Nott, you goin' first?" Fjord asked. Nott nodded, unnecessarily popping the bolt out of the crossbow and slotting it back in again with a _ch-chuk_. 

She took one final swig of her flask. "Alright, let's kill this motherfucker."

\---

"And so then I jumped on the Hangman, my sword out, and I just started cutting off heads!" Fabian Aramais Seacaster recounted to the rest of the Bad Kids, who were all sitting around in a classroom. 

"Right," Kristen Applebees seemed to have ignored everything that Fabian had just said. "But how does that help us with the simulation?" 

"Well, it... well, you know, sometimes you have to, you know-" Fabian began. 

"It's ok, we get it." Gorgug Thistlespring cut across. "You want to bring the Hangman on the simulation quest with us." 

"It's just stupid," Adaine said abruptly. "We defeated a fucking _dragon_ last year. Admittedly, with a lot of help, but... you know, you'd think they'd take that into account. We've already finished a quest that was very important and dangerous. Can't they just grade us on that?" 

Fig shrugged. "I asked Gillear 'bout it - 'cause you know, he's the vice principle - an' he said that it's like a way of the school showing the governing board or whatever that their school is like worth staying open. They send all of the students on a quest, to like, I guess get an overall, like, look at how the teaching is going. And, even knowing that, I still think it's incredibly dumb." 

"Well, we can just look at it as an easy A, right?" Riz said. "I don't know about you guys, but I much prefer this to exams." 

Everyone considered it for a moment, before Adaine finally spoke up. "Yeah, no, this is way better than exams. I really hate exams." 

"Ah men to that!" Fig said.

There was a knock on the door of the classroom, and the school's principle, Arthur Aguefort, walked in. "Hello, students!" he said eagerly. "It's your time to start the quest. You have twenty four hours to retrieve the item and return it here safely. I take it you're all prepared?" 

"As we'll ever be." Kristen said. Adaine held Boggy between her hands, Riz double-checked to make sure he had everything he needed in his briefcase, and Fig tuned her bass.

"Excellent." Aguefort handed Fabian a beige folder filled with sloppily photocopied pages. Fabian opened it, and saw the immediate picture of a key with a ruby inlay. 

"What is-" Fabian looked up, but Aguefort had disappeared as they all stole looks at the folder over Fabian's shoulder. 

"Helpful." Riz muttered under his breath. 

"Alright, come on people, get it together," Kristen said a little too loudly, waving her arms back and forth. "Twenty four hours for an A Grade. We got this." 

\---

The fight was not quite going as well as planned. 

"He's casting!" Caleb Widogast shouted as he dove behind some half-formed rock walls for cover. The mage had been severely underestimated by the Mighty Nein and things weren't looking great for them. Fjord and Nott were unconscious, Caduceus was paralysed, and the rest of them were in various states of injury. Caleb was sporting a severe burn across half of his body from the fire elemental that the mage had conjured. The only thing standing between Jester - the only available, but severely injured healer - and the elemental was Beauregard, who grabbed a hold of the fiery creature whenever it tried to move. She was swaying slightly, but kept her guard up and even still managed to make quips at it. 

The mage seemed incredibly infuriated by her and started casting a spell that Caleb didn't recognise. The school was conjuration, and it seemed very powerful.

"Stop him!" he shouted desperately. Beau didn't respond verbally but instead pushed ahead, unleashing a flurry of punches that somehow struck the fire's incorporeal body. Caleb winced when he saw fire dancing across her knuckles - her hand wraps had burned away long ago, and her hands were almost definitely broken and burned horribly. Regardless of the burning, she surged through the creature, driving a fist straight through its chest and following through with her body, stumbling through the elemental's form as it dissipated into a smattering of ashes across the breezeless interior of the tunnel. She pressed on toward the mage, but Caleb knew she wouldn't get there in time to stop him. 

Caleb tried to counterspell it, but it was clear that whatever the mage was casting was more powerful than his own arcane ability. 

He could do nothing but watch as the mage muttered the last few words of the incantation, drawing a circle of purple arcane energy in the air. The bloodied mage, probably on his last legs, smiled triumphantly. "Good luck." he snarled.

And then the cave was awash with purple light. 

\---

"I still think this is dumb." Adaine muttered as the six of them looked about the workshop. Riz rolled his eyes, checking for secret compartments in the desk. 

"Well, I think we're on track for a good grade." Fabian muttered in his snobby, confident way. "And if the grade is bad, then I'll simply pay off Aguefort and we'll get good grades." 

"That doesn't always work, Fabian." Riz muttered, knocking on the walls and glancing over at his best friend, who was sitting on the singular chair with his feet up on the desk. "This whole _Mage Workshop_ deal is a bit stereotypical, don't you think? This is all _very_ predictable." 

"What do you mean?" Kristen asked, picking up a book and flicking through it. She stopped on one particular page, raised her eyebrows suggestively. "Woah, this artist is... _creative_." 

"I _mean_ ," Riz said, pointedly ignoring the latter statement. "Whenever you read about adventurers, they're always fighting some evil mage. I mean, did your teachers tell you guys about that old guy Damiano Cade, who essentially was like the pinnacle of evil mages?" 

"They don't teach that in Bard class." Fig shook her head slightly. 

"You don't _go_ to Bard class." Gorgug frowned. "You go to Barbarian class with me." 

"Can't leave my drummer behind!" Fig said emphatically, punching Gorgug lightly in the shoulder a couple of times. With anyone else, she might not've held back but she didn't particularly want to see Gorgug fly into a rage. 

"We're getting nowhere with this." Riz said eventually, replacing the rug where it'd been before he peeled it back. "Adaine, do you have Detect Magic or anything that you can do?" 

"Yeah, I can-" she looked up from where she'd been examining a pickled eyeball in a jar. She put the jar down and sat down, cross-legged on the floor. "Give me ten minutes." 

The next ten minutes were exceptionally boring for the rest of the Bad Kids. Fig and Fabian seemed to have given up searching, Gorgug and Kristen half-searched while chatting animatedly about how great their respective girlfriends were, and only Riz was still focused on looking for clues. He was looking for secret passages, compartments and nooks when Adaine finally opened her eyes again. They twinkled a slightly brighter shade of Arcane blue.

"There." she tilted her head towards the bookcase, before getting excitedly to her feet. Riz arrived at the bookcase at the same time she did. She scanned the books for a moment, before her hand came to rest over a thick-bound blue book, titled in gold ink _Arminius Hewitt's History of Wizardry_. "This one." 

"What is it?" 

"I don't know," Adaine started flicking through the book. "It looks like a normal textbook. The school of magic is conjuration, but I can't tell..." she trailed off, shaking her head slightly as she read. "This isn't something I've seen bef-" 

She was cut off as she opened the book to the middle and the source of the magic became immediately clear. Lines of purple arcane text glowed and then slowly began to rise off the page. Before Adaine could even think to cast a dispel magic, the ancient runes whizzed around the room with hyper-speed, and the room became awash with that same glowing arcane energy, blinding the six of them.

And then, the light was gone and they all took a moment to blink the spots out of their vision. Surprisingly, they all seemed to be unharmed.

As Adaine's vision cleared, she saw six people had appeared in the room - three standing, one cowering, two unconscious. All bloodied and badly burnt, looking as though they'd been dragged through a bonfire by a van going sixty. The individual closest to Adaine - barely five feet away - looked around at them all wildly before raising bloody fists. 

"Where the fuck are we?" 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope y'all enjoyed the start of this! I'm interested to see how many people are fans of both, and how many would read the fiction even though they're only in one of the fandoms. 
> 
> But for real though, if you don't watch both Critical Role and Dimension 20, you should. I mean if you try it and don't like it, I dig that but the shows have a lot of similarities and both are just great D&D shows. Both have excellent DMs, casts and storytelling. i can't recommend enough. 
> 
> Anywho, I'll let y'all get about your day. As ever, comments and kudos feed my soul and keep me from aging at an alarmingly inhuman rate so I really appreciate all of them :) I hope y'all have the nicest of days and hold a door open for a stranger today if you can, you might just make their day a little nicer. Big love as always fam :) <3


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Mighty Nein meet The Bad Kids and everyone tries not to kill each other.

There were six individuals in the room with the Mighty Nein. 

The first, an Elven girl standing close to Beauregard, was holding a book and a shocked expression. She had long, straight blonde hair, sharp features, and... a toad? sitting on her shoulder. Next to her was a goblin boy carrying a briefcase, wearing a suit and a flatcap. He looked like he couldn't have been older than sixteen or seventeen, but dressed like a detective from one of Jester's novels. Standing by the door was a human girl with ginger hair tied back, a tie-dyed top and jeans. She seemed to be halfway through doing something on some hand-sized glowing crystal. Nearest Fjord was a half-orc teenager wearing a hoodie and something over his head that was blaring out music. He had a lot of hair that, as he saw the others, he seemed to hide behind. Two figures were at the desk, one half-Elven boy with dark skin, an eyepatch and a body that was definitely too buff for a seventeen year old, and a tiefling girl wearing a very punk outfit and strumming idly on some kind of guitar.

"Where the fuck are we?" Beau snarled, raising her fists defensively in front of her. None of the kids seemed to have an answer, they all just stared in shock. There was a long moment of tense silence as the parties sized each other up tensely.

"Let me help your friends." the human girl stepped forward holding out her hands, which glowed softly with Divine Light. The snobby-looking boy at the desk shot her a reproachful look. 

"What are you doing here?" he asked abruptly, standing up. He was almost as tall as Caleb and had a surprisingly intimidating personality. Since nobody stopped her, the cleric stepped forward and healed Nott and Fjord, who each shot upright. 

"Well," Jester began, less energetically than she usually would. "We were going after this super-duper evil mage because our friend Essek told us to, and he cast some sort of spell that made everything go purple and now we're here!" 

"What kind of mage?" the Elven girl stepped a little bit behind the goblin as she spoke and shrunk down a little when the eyes of the room turned to her. 

"The bad kind!" Nott screeched, getting to her feet and dusting herself off. Her eyes roamed the group quickly before settling on the Elven girl. "We're not going to hurt you." she said finally. 

"Well, I mean if you try anything I'll fuckin' break every bone in your body and then have my friend here heal them so I can break them again." Beau added.

"We're not gonna hurt a bunch of kids, Beau." Fjord said, slowly pushing himself up to his feet as the cleric girl went over and cured Caduceus of his petrification.

"What're your names?" Nott asked, leaning a little on the desk. "I'm Nott. This is Beau, Caleb, Caduceus, Jester and Fjord."

"I'm Teddy Giger." the cleric said, smiling around at them all. 

"Fabian Aramais Seacaster, son of Bill Seacaster." the boy at the desk stood up, splaying his hands on the wood and leaning forward. 

"I don't know who that is." Caduceus said. 

"Me either," Jester said. "But I'm sure he was really cool." 

Before Fabian could protest, the tiefling girl cut across him with a shred of the guitar. "I'm Fig of Fig and the Sig Figs. You might've heard of me, I'm kind of a big deal. This is my drummer, Gorgug. He's fucking badass." 

"Adaine." the girl behind the goblin said. She didn't look directly at any of them, and seemed focused on the book in her hand. 

"I'm Riz Gutgag, Private Investigator." the goblin said, reaching in his briefcase and pulling out an actual business card.

"No way, you're too young to be a PI." Beau said, taking the card and reading it briefly before passing it round to the others.

"There was an incident with a dragon," Riz said, a little sheepishly. "My Mom pulled some strings. She's a cop, so-" 

"Your Mom is the coolest." Fig agreed. 

"Alright, what's going on here?" Fjord said loudly. "I don't know where we are or what we're doing here but we do not intend on outstaying our welcome." 

"Well, you're in Elmville." Fabian said, folding his arms. When nobody seemed to recognise the name. "In Solace?" 

"Never heard of it." Caleb frowned slightly. "Are we still in the continent Wildemount?" 

Teddy Giger laughed. "Wild-mount? _Some_ body didn't think that name through. Naw, man, we're in Spyre. There's no Wildemount anywhere in the world." 

Beau cussed under her breath. "Ok, are we in Marquet? Tal'dorie?" 

"Here," Adaine reached into her jacket and pulled out a long, rolled up map that physically couldn't have fit in the pocket. It would've been comical if this were not such a serious situation. She put the map on the table and unravelled it, her and Fig holding a side open each. "See? This is all of the mapped world of Spyre. No Wildemount, no Market, nothing." 

Fjord studied the map for a moment before pulling out his own maps. He first put one of Exandria down, then one of Wildmount at another corner of the desk. It was clear that these were entirely different maps. 

"Well, that's nice." Caduceus said, peering easily over their shoulders at the maps. 

"This doesn't make any goddamn sense." Fjord muttered, picking a pencil up off the desk and trying to find any similarities between the two world maps. 

"Of course it does." Caduceus said mildly, one of his ears flicking a little bit. The other twenty one eyes in the room turned to him expectantly. "Well, what if we're still physically in Wildemount, but above it or below it?" 

"You mean like a different plane, _ja_?" Caleb said, shuffling closer and scratching his arm unconsciously. 

"A different plane, a different realm, a different universe. They could have different stars in the sky than we do." 

"Great." Beau said, deadpan. "And how do we get home?" 

Caduceus shrugged. "Perhaps if we, uh, trace this back to the source and find out who sent us here - and how - then maybe we can find our way home from there. Wow, a new realm. This is all very exciting." 

The Bad Kids all turned to look at each other. "Is this part of our test?" Gorgug whispered to Fabian, who just shrugged and shook his head. 

"We can help." Fig offered. "I mean, I guess we were doing an assessment at school but I'm sure Augefort will let us, like count this as part of our grade." she glanced over at Adaine, who was clearly starting to get antsy the longer they spent standing around. 

The Mighty Nein exchanged looks. "Uh, we appreciate the offer. But, uh, this might be a bit, eh, dangerous for you." Caleb said, moving over to Beauregard and handing her spare hand wraps. She thanked him and quickly started wrapping her burnt knuckles. 

"We're, uh, quite capable." Riz said, frowning slightly. "Just 'cause we're young doesn't mean we don't know what we're doing." 

"Well, it's just... there's a lot of very dangerous things in the world and-" 

Fig cut across Fjord. "We killed a dragon." 

\---

The looks of surprise on the visitors' faces was quite entertaining. 

The tall, handsome half-orc man raised his eyebrows, folded his arms and looked at them all for any trace of deceit. The ginger man in the tattered trench coat, Caleb, kept looking over at Adaine with a slight frown as though he vaguely recognised her but couldn't place from where. Jester, the energetic blue tiefling, was casting a healing spell on the goblin woman with the crossbow, who'd introduced herself as Nott. Caduceus, the firbolg with pink hair and beetle-green armour, took in the room with a knowing perceptiveness that suggested he knew everything about each of them. Beau, the girl in blue that looked beat to shit, just folded her arms and pushed her muscles out like a bouncer.

"A dragon?" Fjord asked, not entirely sure he heard her right. 

"Yeah, he used to be our vice-principle, Goldenhoarde." 

"Your vice-principle was a dragon called Goldenhoarde?" Caleb asked, burying his hands in his pockets. 

"Well, he was really called Kalvaxis. He used Adaine to take down the security on the school and kidnapped a bunch of girls to sacrifice and bring himself back to full power." Fig said, picking her nails. "Also, he was a total flirt and like, he was super old." 

"Can I see that book?" Caleb asked suddenly, turning to look at Adaine. She held it a little more tightly in her hand, alarm bells ringing in her head. 

"I've already checked it." she said pointedly. "It's some kind of conjuration magic." 

"Do you mind if I take a look?" he said again. "You can supervise me if you wish, I'm just curious if it's the same as the mage used to send us here." 

Adaine eventually relented, and the two of them found a quiet corner of the laboratory to sit and study the book. They moved almost in unison as they sat with their legs crossed and pulled their respective spellbooks out. Caleb snapped his fingers and a ginger cat appeared, winding around his neck and purring lightly. Adaine couldn't help but stare. 

"This is Frumpkin." Caleb said, and the cat jumped down and started butting its head against Adaine's knee comfortingly. "You have a familiar, too, _ja_?" he nodded to the frog on Adaine's shoulder. She hesitantly put him down beside Frumpkin, who immediately seemed to like him. The two snuggled down quickly between their wizards with little sounds of content. 

"His name's Boggy." Adaine said. "He's perfectly spherical, you know." 

"I can tell. He is very cute." Caleb said with a smile as he started the ritual for _Identify_. 

On the other side of the room, the rest of them were looking over the maps and trying to figure stuff out. On request from "Teddy Giger", Adaine produced a book on the history of Spyre from her jacket. Caleb cocked his head slightly. 

"You fit a lot of items in that jacket." he commented. 

"Oh." Adaine alternated petting Boggy and petting Frumpkin. "It's magical. I can ask for anything and it'll give me it, as long as it's not magic and doesn't cost more than ten gold." 

Caleb's eyebrows shot up. "Sounds very... ah, useful." he said, flicking through his spellbook. 

"Ok, so..." Fjord looked at the maps and open books on the desk. "Whereabouts are we right now? Because it doesn't seem like a coincidence that we were chasing down a mage and found ourselves in a mage's workshop." 

Fig explained quickly about how the Adventuring Academy had set up a fake adventure for them to complete for their grade.

"That's crazy." Jester said, doodling a penis on one of the books. Fjord tutted and pulled it away from her. 

"So what exactly _is_ your quest?" Beau asked, glancing up from a book that she was reading to make some notes. 

"We're supposed to retrieve a rare crystal. We asked around a couple of the teachers pointed us in the direction of this place." Fig said. Then, she narrowed her eyes. "Porter told us to come here, I knew it! He's evil, I'm telling you." 

"For the last time, Fig," Riz muttered. "Porter's a good guy."

"Guilty until proven innocent." Fig replied, kicking her feet up on the desk.

"That doesn't seem right." Kristen said, frowning slightly. "That's a very Helios view." 

While they studied (or tried to), Caleb and Adaine were making just as much progress with the book.

"This is new magic." Caleb said softly, cocking his head slightly as he looked at the book. "It's not something I've specifically seen before, except for... well, it's very similar to the magic that the mage used to send us here." 

"Maybe when I opened the book, it somehow called you here." 

"Hm." Caleb hummed thoughtfully. "Maybe we weren't supposed to come here at all. Maybe this book intercepted us wherever we were supposed to be going." 

"Probably somewhere bad." Adaine suggested. Caleb nodded. 

"But why would the mage send us away?" he said. "He was doing ok. We were half-dead and he was fine." his frown grew more pronounced. "I don't understand why he would use such a powerful spell to send us to a new plane when he could've easily defeated us." 

"I've got nothing." Adaine said. "Maybe we should head back to the Academy and talk to Aguefort. Normally, I'd avoid him, he tends to be... eccentric." she said carefully. "But he set us this challenge and if anyone knows anything-" 

"I've found it." Gorgug's monotonous tone silenced the other conversations in the room. 

"Found what?" Fig asked. 

Gorgug pointed to a crystal fixed in a socket on the ceiling, which they'd all assumed was just a light. However, as he reached up and unscrewed it, it became clear that this was an exact replica of what they were supposed to be finding. 

"It's glass." Gorgug shook it, frowning. 

"Maybe it's a clue." Riz said. 

"I don't think it is," Fig said, and started laughing to herself. It last for a moment of otherwise silence until she got herself together. "This is Aguefort we're talking about. This is exactly the kind of shit he pulls. I guarantee that's the thing we're supposed to be looking for." 

"It's not even magic." Adaine frowned. "Or it would've come up in my _detect magic_."

"I'm with Fig." Fabian cut across, winding up one of the maps. "That old man is crazier than a bag of feral cats. Let's just hand this in and if he says it's not what we're looking for, we can go back out and look for it." 

"We were going to talk to him, too." Caleb said, looking around them all. "If you wouldn't mind us accompanying you?" 

"It's settled then," Fjord said. "We're all going to see your headmaster." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ayyyy whatsup everyone, I know it's been a while!! I hope everybody had a wonderful holiday period, and is just having an overall good day. I'm not very good at keeping up with fics, but hopefully I can stick to this one. I'm trying to build up a bank of chapters so I can post one a week. I've got some time this weekend so I'll most likely be writing mostly. As always, comments and kudos are severely appreciated! Be kind to someone today, but most importantly, be kind to yourself and remember to stay hydrated.  
> Big love,  
> Avery


End file.
